A short history of the Kampot Traditional Music School as written by the school’s founder,
Ms. Catherine Geach

1990 to Present Day

This is a short history of how our school came to be built and a part of my personal story which is intertwined with our school’s history. I hope it will be useful for those who read it and provide insight and encouragement.

I was born in England and in 1990 at the age of eighteen, following over a year of research on modern Cambodian history, I came to Cambodia during summer recess to do a report on the violation of Human Rights by the Khmer Rouge. This research was done during the civil war in areas of Cambodia affected by the Khmer Rouge; It was done to show the International Community, why the Khmer Rouge should Not be seated at the United Nations as the legal representative of Cambodia. The report, entitled the “Aid and War report “was then completed and sent in 1991 to various humanitarian organisations, the United Nations, the ECC and the British Government. The report also studied the impact of the International Aid and Trade Embargo on Cambodian civilians.

During this period I was a violin student at the Royal Academy of Music, having won a scholarship there at the age of fifteen. I have been playing the violin since the age of four years old and music is part of the very fabric of my life. Although music and the arts is often considered superfluous or not serious, this article shows how very important it is. I do believe that music and dance can be some of the highest forms of human expression.

Additionally when I first began fundraising to build our school, many international organisations and governments were afraid to commit, firstly because I was very young and secondly because they thought that music was a waste of time. At that time many did not understand the importance of restoring Cambodia’s Traditional Cultural Heritage after the destruction caused during the Khmer Rouge genocide. Today there is more understanding of both the importance of music and the arts as therapy and a respect for Cambodia’s Traditional Performing Arts - now designated by UNESCO as “World Intangible Cultural Heritage”.

When I came to Cambodia in 1990 I brought my violin with me, and in between compilation of the Human Rights Aid and War report, was asked to give a concert to the students and teachers of the Music Faculty at the Royal University of Fine Arts. This I did and the Dean of the Music Faculty then asked me to return and help teach, because so many teachers had perished during the Khmer Rouge genocide between 1975-1979. I graduated from the Royal Academy in 1991 and returned to Cambodia the same year, using prize money won for the “Aid and War report” to support me. From there I began teaching violin at the University of Fine Arts.

At the time of teaching at the University of Fine Arts, I began learning Khmer instruments such as the Tro Sau Toch’ and developed a great interest in traditional music and felt deeply for my Cambodian colleagues in the traditional music department, for their struggle in trying to carry on their traditions in the face of poverty and lack of real support. Many traditional music students could not afford to come to school daily, because they had to help earn money for their parents. From here in 1993 was born a scholarship program, sponsored by the British Embassy to enable the traditional music students to attend school daily, instead of having to go out and work. Although the program was successful, I felt it did not really address a more profound need to concentrate specifically on the preservation and continuation of traditional Khmer music.

During this period with some of my Cambodian colleagues from the traditional music department we went as volunteers to the then Maryknoll sponsored rehabilitation program at Kean Klang. At the time the bridge across the river was still broken since the time the Khmer Rouge blew it up in 1975. I would go by bicycle and then by boat across the river and then by bicycle again to reach the rehabilitation centre. It is here that I learned the importance and value of music to people who had suffered great physical injury and psychological trauma. I taught the Tro Sau Toch’ instrument (a two stringed instrument played using a bow) to former soldiers who had lost their eyes, fingers and legs to mines and shrapnel explosion. Many of these men were angry and depressed, but through music I witnessed a transformation of joy and satisfaction on their faces.

Whilst in Cambodia between November 1991 and 1992, on the other side of the world, my grandmother, mother and grandfather died. Four years later my father and then my uncle died. As a young girl I took care of my mother who had become severely mentally ill. My mother then moved to Italy and died by suicide there in May 1992. At the time in Cambodia there was no proper postal system and no public telephones and few flights out of Cambodia and so the British Embassy assisted me by allowing me to use their telephone following the death of my mother.

Throughout my girlhood, Music played a vitally important role in my life. It expressed what I could not say in words and allowed a transformation into sublime joy and freedom. Earlier, difficult experiences allowed me to understand on a deeper level what other people might be experiencing and to wish to give a safe, loving environment to those who might not be internally strong and who, without appropriate help, might get lost on the path of addictions or harmful behaviours, or lost in hopeless situations driven by poverty and lack of educational opportunity.

It is a combination of all these experiences together with the experience of living in a very poor village outside Phnom Penh and being very moved by the hardship and poverty both physical and psychological of the inhabitants of the village, that inspired me to found and build a school for the conservation of Traditional Khmer music at the same time as caring for the most vulnerable children in society.

At the time of building the school in 1994, Kampot was often under siege from the Khmer Rouge guerrillas, who had their strong-hold in Phnom Vor. Many inhabitants of the surrounding districts suffered continual attacks and had to build trenches to protect themselves from constant fire and mortar. Yet Kampot before the war had once been an important centre not only for tourism but also for the arts and a most beautiful natural reserve, yet in the early 1990’s there were very few NGO’s working there. Gaining permission from the Supreme National Council to found a Cambodian NGO, (Khmer Cultural Development Institute) and then to use land donated by the Mayor of Kampot and the Ministry of Culture, to build the school, “The Kampot Traditional Music School for Orphaned, Vulnerable and Disabled Children.” I found funding from the Canada Fund, the British Embassy and the Embassy of Japan to build three main buildings. Then from Terre des Hommes Netherlands, funds to teach and board vulnerable children from the surrounding community. A 4th building, a music and ballet hall with a research library, was built in 2002 with funds donated by the Japanese Government.

Through the tuition of traditional Pin Peat music by one of the last great masters, the late Huot’ Toch’, children learned how to play different instruments, whilst also receiving an academic education. Gradually children were transformed from being shy, traumatized and closed, to being open and happier, they also felt a sense of achievement and were proud of their abilities. This practice of using music and dance as a form of both therapy and vocational training continues today and hundreds of children from the local community and surrounding district have been able to benefit from the school’s existence.

The children from 1994, now grown up, and today include professional musicians, teachers, shop-owners, whilst some have worked with the Ministry of Culture and others have won scholarships abroad. As older children graduate then new, small children enter to study and enjoy their traditional culture.

Today our school has grown considerably since it’s founding in 1994. As well as teaching Pin Peat, Mohori and Plein Ka music, we also teach Classical Cambodian Ballet, Yike (dance, music and theatre), Folk Dance and Lakoun Sabaik Toch’ (Small Shadow Puppet Theatre). Our teachers are highly qualified and come from the Royal University of Fine Arts, the Royal Ballet and the National Theatre. Our school works closely with the Ministries of Culture, Education and Social Affairs. Students now attend local state schools from primary school level to high school level. We assist older students with the transition into higher education, university, teaching college or vocational training.

Since 1997 we have a community program where we give free arts tuition at our school to children and youth from surrounding schools and communities.

We have developed a rehabilitation, educational and vocational training centre for blind children and youth at our school. Together with our partners, we have formed a Childsafe Program in Kampot and our staff continue to have training on Child Protection.

Catherine Louise Geach ©